Shower cape and method of making same



Aug. 7, 1956 F. w. SLATER 2,757,384

SHOWER CAPE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Jan. 12, 1955 INVENTOR.

FRA/VC/S W SLATER AT TOR/V5 Y United States Patent '0 2,757,384 SHOWER CAPE AND METHODOF MAKING SAME Francis W. Slater, Denver, Colo., assignor of fifty per cent to William R. Awenius, Sr., Denver, Colo.

Application January 12 1955, Serial No. 481,331

3 .Claims. ,(Cl, 4-145) This invention relates to a flexible cape that may be suspended from the shoulders of a person and enclose the majority of a persons body and that has means associated therewith for permitting the cape .to be used in connection with the taking of a shower or theraupeutic treatments.

For example, the invention is designed to insure that a needle-like spray of water, steam or vapor is applied to a large part of the users body depending upon whether it is employed in connection with an ordinary shower or steam bath. Also, due to its flexibility and ease of manipulation, the cape may readily be used by a semiparalyzed person such as one seated on a stool or the like When taking a shower or steam bath.

An important object of this invention is to provide a cape having means for passing a supply of water or vapor therethrough and discharge same onto, in the form of a needle-like spray or steam vapor, substantially all portions of the users body from adjacent the neck to adjacent the knees, said discharge consisting of issuing jets of water or vapor closely spaced at predetermined points throughout the cape.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cape that may be used in taking showers or in therapeutic treatments comprising a flexible body adapted to be suspended from the shoulders of a person and to extend a substantial length of the persons body, said cape having a plurality of tubes therein for the passage of water or the like and some of said tubes being perforated whereby the water or the like in the form of a spray or jet may be evenly distributed on the persons body.

Another object of this invention is to provide -a flexible cape of the type previously described, including top and bottom portions and two edge portions with means for securing the edges together around the persons body in substantially sealed relation, a sealed tube in one of said edges and another sealed tube in said top portion communicating with said first named tube and a plurality of perforated tubes between the top and bottom portions communicating with said tube in the top portion, whereby water or the like may be injected along the edge of the cape and exit onto the persons body in the form of a spray or jet through the perforations in said perforated tubes.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a cape of the type described in the preceding paragraph wherein there is also provided an imperforate tube in the lower portion communicating with the perforated tubes and valve means associated with said last named tube whereby all accumulated water may be drained from the cape when the shower or therapeutic treatment is completed.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved method of making a plastic cape of the type described, said method permitting mass production thereof at a relatively low cost and at the same time providing complete seals for the passage of liquid or vapor therethrough.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction withthe drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating the cape of this invention on the body of a person;

Figure 2 is an .elevational View of the interior of the cape;

Figure 3 is an elevational view, broken away, of one of the sheets of plastic used in making the cape; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged view taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 2.

The flexible cape of this invention is illustrated ,generally by the numeral 1 in Figure 1,,the cape being shown as suspended from the shoulders of a person P and enclosing the majority of the body of said person. Preferably, the cape is made out of plastic by the method hereinafter described, and any suitable flexible plastic, such as a flexible vinyl plastic, may be employed although it is to be understood that the cape may be made from flexible rubber, latex, or nylon .or other similar materials. Of course, the selected material must be waterproof or water-repellant and generally impervious to liquids. If desired, the cape may be made out of a transparent plastic material, as illustrated in Figure l, and it will be readily apparent from the detailed description that the cape may be employed while taking a shower or while having therapeutic treatments. Primary reference, hereinafter, will be made to utilizing the cape for a water shower, but the cape may obviously be used for steam baths and other heat treatments.

The finished product is illustrated in Figure 2, said cape 1 including a main body portion 2 similar in shape or configuration to that of a rain coat, but without having sleeves, said body 2 having a top portion 3, a bottom portion 4 and longitudinally extending edges 5 and 6. Along the edge 5 there is provided a sealed tube 7, that is a tube imperforate throughout its longitudinal length, which communicates with a similarlysealed tube 8 in top portion 3. At suitable intervals longitudinally of the body 2, there is provided a plurality of additional tubes 9, each of said longitudinally extending tubes 9 being perforated at suitably spaced intervals throughout the longitudinal length of each. Along the bottom portion 4 of the body 2 is another sealed or .imperforate tube 11, said last named tube also having associated therewith a valve 12 which may be easily opened or closed and since numerous conventional types of valves may be employed, no details thereof are illustrated. The longitudinally extending tubes 9 communicate with tubes 8 and 11 and a rubber hose is shown at 13 as detachably communicating with tube 7. Hose 13 may be plugged into tube 7 by means of a tight wedging fit with plug 12 of the hose or the lower end of tube 7 may be threaded for threadedly engaging, in a well known manner, an end of hose 1?.

Suitable hand slits 14 may be provided in the manner illustrated for the purpose of permitting the person i to obtain access to the exterior of the garment 1. Also, edge 6 is shown provided with a suitable number of eyes 15 which are to be engaged by and connected to hooks 16 on edge 5 in a manner well known in the art for the purpose of more or less substantially uniting the edges in substantially sealed relation in the manner illustrated in Figure 1.

It should be mentioned that edge 5 is provided with a heat sealed layer 20 to which hooks may be coupled and instead of the hook and eye attachment means, there could be installed a zipper arrangement or merely commercially available snap fasteners.

In operation, the person P, if desiring to take a shower,

connects the hose 13 with the tube 7 and with a suitable water supply such as a bathroom faucet and positions the cape 1 about his or her body in the manner shown in Figure l. Thereafter, through hand slits 14, access may be had to soap or the like and for turning on the water. When the faucet is opened, the water enters hose 13 under pressure and travels to the top of the cape through tubes 7 and 8 and thence downwardly through the longitudinally extending tubes 9. During this downward traveling, water in the form of a plurality of sprays or jets is ejected, due to the pressure of the water supply, on the body of the user P. The issued spray is very fine and, due to the arrangement of perforations 10, covers the entire body. During the taking of the shower the valve 12 is closed, whereby substantially all the water exits through the perforations 10, but upon completing the shower or therapeutic treatment the valve 12 is operated to open its passage and permit any water that might have accumulated in tube 11 or elsewhere to drain therethrough. Operation in connection with a steam bath would be similar except that vapor would issue from tubes 9.

It is to be noted that in the preferred form of the invention the liquid enters one edge of the garment and travels upwardly to and throughout tube 8 in the neck portion from whence it travels downwardly through tubes 9 and issues in the form of a needle-like spray. Thus the issuing jets of liquid are applied simultaneously to practically all areas of the persons body.

In connection with the making of the shower cape 1, this may be done substantially completely by standard cutting and plastic heat sealing apparatus and operations. The preferred method consists of die cutting out a first sheet of plastic material 2 so that it assumes the configuration of that shown in Figure 2 with the hand slits 14 also cut out. Thereafter, a second sheet 17 is cut, as illustrated in Figure 3, this second sheet being substantially identical in size and shape with sheet 2. Following this areas 18 of sheet 17 are cut away, whereby all that remains of sheet 17 are the strips 19 and 21 and perforations are made, by any suitable means, in the strips 19 and 21 are heat sealed in a well known manner to the sheet 2 and this heat sealing takes place at the peripheries or edges 22 of each strip 19 and 21, as illustrated in Figure 4, whereby the various tubes are formed and the flaps 20' of each sheet are heat sealed to form layer 20. Part of tube 11 is then cut-out, and a suitable valve 12 is heat sealed around said cut-out in a well known manner. The bottom of tube 7 is left open to receive in a tight fit a plug 12' of tube 13, and it is to be noted that the cutting of sheet 17 and heat sealing is such that in the finished product tube 11 does not communicate with tube 7.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one Well adapted to attain all the ends and objects hereinabove set forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which areflinherent to the structure and process.

Being aware that modifications can be made in my improved shower cape shown by way of example, all Without departing from the fundamental principles of my invention, I desire it to be understood that the scope of my invention is not to be limited except in accordance with the structure terms of the accompanying claims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A cape for taking showers and the like comprising a flexible body made of plastic material and arranged to be suspended from the shoulders of a person and enclose the majority of the persons figure in a manner similar to a closed armless raincoat, said body when so suspended having top and bottom portions and edge portions adapted to be held together in a substantially liquid sealed relation, a first liquid feeder tube extending substantially longitudinally through the body from the bottom portion to the top portion, a second liquid feeder tube communicating with the first feeder tube positioned in the top portion and extending substantially about the area adjacent the neck of the person, both of said feeder tubes being imperforate to liquid, a plurality of fairly closely spaced perforated tubes in said body communicating with said second tube and extending substantially longitudinally to adjacent said bottom portion, and means for injecting water or the like in the first feeder tube whereby it travels to and through the second feeder tube and then through said perforated tubes and exits through the perforations in the latter in the form of a plurality of sprays on the figure of the person.

2. A cape as defined in claim 1 wherein the first feeder tube is located in one of said edge portions and there is provided in the body hand slits permitting access to the exterior of the suspended cape.

3. A cape as defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided in said bottom portion a third imperforate tube communicating with each of said perforated tubes and valve means associated with said third tube whereby when the valve is closed substantially all water will exit through said perforations and when the valve is opened and the person has completed the shower, all water may be drained from the cape.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,691,173 Smith Oct. 10, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 17,663 Great Britain Mar. 7, 1907 

